The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 183

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Re on aes ee
THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

183

and sprinkled it with meal as they passed. Then
they stood in line on either side, waiting for the
arrival of the snake priests.

With much clattering of tortoise-shell rattles the
snake priests entered the court and circled four
times before the altar, on which, just before their
arrival, a large sack filled with snakes had been
placed. They, too, stamped upon the board and
sprinkled it with sacred meal. Then they formed
a line, facing the other priests, and for about fifteen
minutes sang their weird, strange songs as they
stamped their feet in rhythm to the singing.

When the singing was ended, the snake and ante-

e
A Hopi Snake Dance.

lope priests paired off and marched before the altar.
For a brief moment a snake priest bowed before it,
and when he straightened up again, he was seen
trying to get a huge rattler into his mouth. Shield-
ing his teeth with his lips, he held the snake with
his jaws about six inches from its head. The priest
with him had a few turkey-feathers in his hands and
turned the snake’s head away from the dancer’s face
whenever it seemed that the snake was making ready
to strike.

Soon six or more priests were dancing about with
these venomous rattlers dangling from their mouths.
Each snake was carried around the little court and
then dropped to the ground, to be gathered up by
another priest, whose only means of defense was
a bunch of turkey-feathers held in his hand.

The dancers repeatedly returned to the altar to
get other snakes, and the little circle was filled with
priests, who were transporting serpents either in
their hands or in their mouths. As the dancers
passed the sacred rock, eight squaws threw hand-
fuls of sacred meal upon both dancers and snakes.

When the last snake had had its ride, three
priests were holding all the forty or more serpents.
One of them had specialized on rattlers. In one
hand he held six of them without a sign of fear.
As far as he was concerned, they might have been
just so many lengths of garden hose. Strangely
enough, the snakes seemed to be perfectly contented,
and despite a dozen opportunities to strike his naked
legs, they made no attempt to do so.

As soon as all the serpents had had their ride,
the chief snake priest took a bowl of sacred meal and
with it drew a circle upon the ground. Then he drew
radial lines through the circle from the four points
of the compass. No sooner was this done than the
priests holding the reptiles threw them into the circle,
and the eight squaws rushed forward to empty their

. bowls of meal upon the squirming mass of serpents.

Without a moment’s hesitation the priests reached
into the heap of writhing snakes, grabbed as many
as they could get, and then ran down from the

_plateau to the rocks below, where the snakes were

released with final instructions to go to the rain gods
and order sufficient rain for the growing crops.
F.J.L.

The Blood of the Martyrs Is the Seed
of the Church.

There was much life in the little village, where
usually there reigned lazy peace. In the open space
before the temple were erected numerous poles,
from which hung gaily colored paper chains and
flags. Booths were to be seen on all sides. The
dealer in earthenware was telling the people how
good and cheap his wares were. The peanut seller
was doing a good business. The toy seller was doing
all he could to attract buyers. By noon the crowd
was dense, but yet they kept on coming from the
neighboring villages.

And the venders kept up their incessant yelling.
Swings were creaking. Elephants and camels
marched to and fro with screaming children on their
backs. Noise, discordant noise, was everywhere.
The crowd was shouting and good-naturedly push- -
ing. A fortune-teller was shouting to the passers-
by to Jet him tell them what the future had in store”
for them. -